Scheme to reopen road after six years to go ahead

A scheme to reopen a key city road to traffic after its six year-closure has been given the go ahead.

Dryden Road, which runs alongside the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital site, was closed in 2020 to create better conditions for cyclists.

Members of the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) have now backed designs to help reopen the road, which are set to cost nearly £500,000 and include cycle lanes, pedestrian crossings, a 20mph speed limit and speed humps.

The Exeter Cycling Campaign, which objects to cars and lorries being allowed back on to the road, said it was preparing a legal challenge to the move.

In its latest statement, the campaign said "£500,000 to double the length of traffic jams and make a cycle route unsafe" was "a waste of public money".

Dryden Road was closed to cars during the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of providing a traffic-free route in and out of the city centre.

Supporters of the closure said it was safer and less polluted, but critics said it had moved congestion and fumes to other nearby roads, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The HATOC was urged to get on with the change following a lengthy public consultation and a vote in favour at the last HATOC meeting in the summer.

Ian Frankum, who has led the campaign to re-open the road, told the latest HATOC meeting: "People have waited long enough.

"It is time to do the right thing, deliver safety measures and demonstrate that the voices of local residents have finally been heard."

Cllr Lynn Wetenhall (Green, Newtown and St Leonards), however, said it was implausible that there would not be an increase in pollution as a result of re-opening the road.

And Cllr Jack Eade (Green, Heavitree and Whipton Barton) said there were "serious safety concerns" around bringing cars back in.

Committee members voted by nine to four to go ahead.

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